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Power tariffs to rise from March

Kolkata: Get ready to pay more for power from the beginning of March as the Coal India (CIL) has revised non-coking coal prices from midnight of January 9. The non-coking coal is the main fuel used for power generation.

Sources in the West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission (WBERC) said there are provisions through which power distribution firms can increase tariff after publishing advertisements in newspapers following a rise in fuel cost. “The power distribution companies can recover the additional cost by charging marginal fuel cost adjustment while integrated power utilities like CESC can charge marginal variable cost adjustment following hike in fuel cost,” a WBERC. source added.

According to sources, WBERC would soon ask for tariff petition from power utilities — CESC, West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL), West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company (WBSEDCL), India Power and DVC. A WBPDCL said the state-run power utility is evaluating the impact. “The price change for different grades of coal used will be different,” he added. CESC MD Aniruddha Basu told TOI that the company has not yet assessed the impact of the coal price hike. “We are yet to get any formal communication,” he said. The tariff of WBSEDCL ranges from Rs 5.30 to Rs 8.99 for domestic consumers while in CESC, it ranges from Rs 4.89 to Rs 8.92 in various slabs.

Meanwhile, CIL said that following the coal price rise, there would be an incremental revenue of Rs 6,421 crore for 2017-18 and for the balance period of the fiscal, the incremental revenue would be Rs 1,956 crore.